Arrow‘s tech gal Felicity is stepping up her game, putting herself in the line of fire this season, and she’s taking an active approach in her person life, too.

Oliver, that’s a warning to you that your Girl Friday isn’t waiting around for your attention. In fact, someone might be swooping in — in a flash — to charm her away, previews her portrayer Emily Bett Rickards.

Below, the actress also dishes about the team’s Canary conundrum in this Wednesday’s episode (The CW, 8/7c) and the “dance” that has her putting her hands all over Ollie.

TVLINE | Oliver meets The Canary this week. How does that affect the core team of Oliver, Felicity and Diggle?
What creates the biggest wave is the fact that we’ve learned there’s another extremely powerful fighter in town. But she’s helped us, so what does that mean? She’s extremely dangerous, so we’re on-guard, but also thankful. [Laughs] We never had to be thankful with Helena. She wasn’t ever helpful in any sort of way. It just creates a whole bunch of waves and equations to figure out that’ll definitely take time.

TVLINE | What’s Felicity’s personal take on The Canary?
[There’s] an awe that she is a woman, and she’s extremely…powerful. She surprises herself at how intrigued she is because it is a very dangerous situation. Felicity’s changing. She’s not becoming immune [to the danger] or numb to it. She’s allowing herself to live with it more. So she’s extremely intrigued by The Canary, as [are] Diggle and Oliver. It’s really important for them to find who she is and what she’s doing here.

TVLINE | Does Felicity get to have any one-on-one interaction with her?
We get to look forward to one scene. We don’t get to see very much, but possibly in the future. We are [only] on Episode 10.

TVLINE | Felicity’s gotten so much more involved in the action this season. Will there be a point at which she takes it too far?
Yeah. She does put her life at stake. I think she goes home and she’s scared. But she has Oliver and Diggle, and she trusts them. They create a shell for her to hide in — kind of like a computer used to do for her when she didn’t talk to anyone. That’s why Oliver and Diggle are so important to her, too. She feels protection and at home with them. But when she puts herself in danger and puts her life at risk, she sees it as weighing herself in with the team. Because Diggle and Oliver do that all the time. She has a lot of intellect, and yes, she’s a woman, but it is necessary. She is an equal part of the team, and it has to happen. That trumps everything.

TVLINE | The episode description for this week says, “Felicity stuns Oliver with a bit of information about the Canary.” Is there anything you can tease about the nature of that information?
Having The Canary in general is stunning for all of them, but Oliver needs to know that he’s not alone. He’s constantly reminded of it, but he’s also very blocked off.

TVLINE | There’s also a picture of Felicity grasping Oliver’s face in front of Isabel. Would you care to explain?
[Laughs] It’s such a good scene. Felicity in that scene is pulling so many strings. She’s dancing to cover up what Oliver does in that scene. She’s literally pulling out all the stops – and grabbing his face is one of them, so you’ll all like that.

TVLINE | On that note, how is the relationship between Oliver and Felicity evolving in the future episodes? Are you seeing a difference?
I saw a difference in Episode 3. She had a voice because she was sticking up for Diggle, but she put Oliver in his place. That doesn’t happen very often. She got quiet a lot in Season 1, sort of reserved herself. She did a lot of talking to herself in Season 1. Now, she’s becoming more vocal, and that’s because she has more confidence. That is going to show in their relationship, their friendship, the trioship. There are more Olicity moments. [But] I don’t want her to get lost in Olicity moments. She’s a strong woman. She’s an independent woman. The Olicity moments aren’t her water or her oxygen. I think they’ll continue to happen, but Oliver really needs to step up his game in terms of that. She’s not going to wait around forever. We do get another character this season that creates rifts and creates another option for her. It is really a thought process for both of them.

TVLINE | Word is that she and Barry Allen [aka The Flash] have a bit of a flirtation. What’s their dynamic like?
It’s great and fun and sparky. His intellect matches hers, and that’s really interesting and fun for her. She doesn’t have to explain a whole lot. There’s something so, so comforting in not having to explain a whole lot, especially when there’s chemistry.

Even Emily knows they are only using Felicity for Olicity moments. This whole thing is a joke. They keep saying Oliver and Laurel are in love, but they can’t just tell people Olicity won’t happen. So they will use her character, and in the end they’ll kill her or make she leave, so he can be with Laurel.
They should send Emily to “The Flash” show, so they can give her a real opportunity to have her show.

So she can be flash’s new love interest? I thought you don’t want her become love interest, beside barry also have canon love life, it will be the same thing for her, I don’t get it, sorry what you said didn’t make any sense for me

Beside based from this past eps felicity main plot always involve team arrow, olicity only have a few moment and it doesn’t even involve felicity and oliver kissing or making google eyes at each other, they talking, like friends do, but still that few moment are priceless, they’re so beautiful

True it will likely be the same situation since Barry has his own canonical love interest in Iris West. Thats why the show writers are making him a choice love interest for Felicity, on top of also being there for 2 episodes and having his own show. They want to give the illusion they are actually giving Felicity other things to do with other people, while they continue with their Olicity pandering. Also Barry isnt going to upset olicity fans much as he has his own canon love interest and isnt staying on the show for long. Actually they love him right ow because him flirting with Felicity will make Oliver “jealous”, rolleyes, but of course they kind of hate him a bit that he could run with Felicity to the central city spin off and take Felicity from Oliver.

One thing though I think Jenna at least sees Barry as better and suitable for Felicity is that he doesnt have a gazillion of girlfriends and love interests lined up for him. Barry is more of a one woman kind of guy, he is less likely to break felicity’s heart.

Still hoping we get some information about Felicity’s backstory, heard abou maybe meeting her parents. That would be great. Oliver/Felicity? I’m totally loving the relationship and I’m excited for the journey. Love them!

Its the only thing that many, most of you Olicity fans care about really: Oliver/Felicity romance.
Some of you call yourselves Felicity Smoak fans but you are not, you will gladly have her character underdeveloped and assassinated as long as you got your Olicity fantasies fulfilled.

Obviously, you haven’t seen the other “Olicity” fans talk about how they want her backstory(which I do too), not just Olicity. In fact we “Olicity” fans get excited when she becomes spunky and love the coffee scenes because of how well the actress can act. I personally also love the scenes she has with Diggle too. In general, she seems to work well with any character she interacts with

why do you say things like that? i, myself, is a fan of olicity, but i am extremely eager to find out more about felicity’s life outside the team arrow. felicity and oliver, i believe, are individually great in their own way, but i believe that together they would even be more amazing

im fairly certain that we will see some flashbacks to the lives of the various different characters while oliver is on the island at some stage, i really want to see what diggle’s life was like before andy was killed and what his reaction was to that when it happened.

Thanks for the interview :) I love Emily and Felicity and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her in the show. I’m also really liking Oliver/Felicity and I’m excited to see their friendship/relationship develop.

I love this season so far. I miss awkward Felicity but I guess she had to start being more confident since she’s been around them for about a year now. I like what they’re doing with Olicity so I hope they keep this pace for a few seasons before thinking about anything happening between them.

Agreed! I love if both of them got together, but I don’t want anything to officially happen between then until maybe the end of this season or sometime in season 3 or even season 4. I like the slow burn development of the formal relationship with the two of them. I also get that this based of the Green Arrow comics and that Oliver and Laurel are meant to be together, but I just don’t see it. I don’t feel the chemistry between them. Maybe if there was another actress, but I’m still not seeing it. I know the fans of the comics would be upset if Oliver doesn’t end of with Laurel or if she does not wide up sooner or later being the BC, but I can care less. I watch the show for the show and not because of the comic book it’s based off. I’ve never read it so i’m not even really know any back story of the comics I only know the story told by the writers of this show and I LOVE it. Would like to see some slight changes, but I can deal.

Then educate yourself, read a comic, you may not care about comic books but this show does and wouldnt exist without them. Fair enough you can chose not to get yourself acquainted with comic book history and knowledge but dont cry foul when the show stirs itself into more comic booky territory or does things that are inspired by the comics. Dont expect the show to not be inspired and do comic book stories just because you dont know about comics and dont want to. If the show choose to go with Ed Raymond for Felicity’s love interest later don’t cry foul that you didnt know about him and them. You can ship Oliver/Felicity all you want , I have no problem with that but they are both comic book characters with comic book histories and stories, this is a comic book inspired show, you have to accept that when you ship them.

Ok calm down. I’m just saying that you have to remember that some people like me who watch the show don’t care to read or know this story behind some of the things since they don’t read the comic, I for one never have been a cmmic book reader, but I’ve watched many of shows and movies based on them and have had no problem keeping up, if I’m confused about something or someone’s story I just good it. Yes, I may ship a certain couple but I watch the show for what the show is, the couple I ship is just a plus. We all must remember that yes this is based off a comic, but its still a TV show. Even if this wasn’t based on a comic I would still watch the show. I just don’t like how upset people get when things don’t happen like they do in comics or books that some shows and movies are based off. All of these show and movie writers have creative license to make it go in whatever direction they want and fans of the comic just like non-fans/readers of the comic just have to deal.

Ok calm down. I’m just saying that you have to remember that some people like me who watch the show don’t care to read the comics or know the story behind some of the things since they don’t read the comic, I for one never have been a cmmic book reader, but I’ve watched many shows and movies based on them and have had no problem keeping up, if I’m confused about something or someone’s story I just Google it. Yes, I may ship a certain couple but I watch the show for what the show is, the couple I ship is just a plus. We all must remember that yes this is based off a comic, but its still a TV show. Even if this wasn’t based on a comic I would still watch the show. I just don’t like how upset people get when things don’t happen like they do in comics or books that some shows and movies are based off. All of these show and movie writers have creative license to make it go in whatever direction they want and fans of the comic just like non-fans/readers of the comic just have to deal.

I call bull that’s ridiculous….they will take some stuff but will take creative license they already did that with Felicity and the only reason she is there is due to great reaction from fans so that means they can take her character anywhere in my opinion plus Laurel and Oliver better not happen she should even become Canary she is a terrible additi

I call bull that’s ridiculous….they will take some stuff but will take creative license they already did that with Felicity and the only reason she is there is due to great reaction from fans so that means they can take her character anywhere in my opinion plus Laurel and Oliver better not happen she should even become Canary she is a terrible addition to the show. Katie Cassidy is a horrible actress I wouldn’t shed a year if they killed her off

Yes, this is a comic “inspired” show–that being the key word right there, inspired–but they made it into a TV show for a reason: to appeal to a wider audience. I don’t know what all the rules involving licensing are but I doubt they have to stick with official “canon” if they don’t want to. Besides, there are multiple storylines in the comics for a lot of characters that take them in different directions, so if the writers choose to go in a different direction with the TV series so what? The bottom line is what seems like a majority of fans don’t care for Laurel as a character, with Oliver, or as Black Canary. So we may see them do something different.

As much as I love the Olicity moments, I’m glad Emily has pointed out that Felicity needs to be someone other than just the girl with a crush on Oliver. Her character has so much potential, I hope they do her justice.

Felicity doesn’t know oliver better than anyone in this show. I hate to say that word, but you make it very easy to: You olicity fans are DELUSIONAL. And if you know anything about smalville Chloe was closest to Clark you know superman not Green Arrow.

Totally agree on how she should be developed as a character on her own, besides being a love interest for Oliver. I love Olicity but I wouldn’t want her to become an irrelevant damsel in distress like the writers had Laurel in the first season.
Other than that, I do hope for an Olicity slow burn and some Black Canary fangirling by Felicity.

Love Emily Bett Rickards on Arrow. Felicity Smoak is a great character and now that she’s a series regular this season, it’ll be a lot of fun to see how the show fleshes out her character. Of course Felicity can’t live/exist only for the article-dubbed “Olicity” moments, and it sounds like they’re going to be mixing her up with a lot of characters. Hopefully we’ll see Felicity built up, get some backstory, and secure a firmer place in the overall plot. Since she wasn’t even supposed to be on the show, this’ll be interesting where the writers go.

As for whether or not Oliver and Felicity can end up a romance or not…. It’d work for me. I like them and they’re more interesting, potential wise, to me. But hopefully there’s many more years of the show to come and we all know the CW. Drama, drama, drama. LOL. Let Oliver/Felicity push and pull. I think they’d be a great relationship.

Exactly, Liz! Well said! I love Oliver and Felicity as much as the next person and I’d love to see them together, but Felicity needs to also be mixed into the overall canvas of the show, form friendships, get some enemies of her own, etc., now that she’s a season regular — something, I feel obliged to keep pointing out has only been in effect for three episodes that we’ve seen so far. I’d love to see Felicity’s circle of interaction widen and we’re already seeing that with Quentin Lance. I’d love to start seeing the women on the show mix together and form some friendships, too. I’ve seen people mention Felicity & Thea becoming friends and I think that’s a great idea, just like I like the idea of Felicity and Isabel butting heads. I still don’t trust that chick and it’d be nice if Felicity had a little adversary of her own to take on like everybody else does on the show.

Oh and I forgot to comment on Felicity putting her life in danger. Interesting. I assume that’s something different than her being psycho bait with the Dollmaker.

I LOVE FELICITY. I’m so glad she is a character developing as her own character as well as having that love interest potential with Oliver. Because I love Olicity to the stars and back but the main reason I fell in love with the show was the characters of Felicity, Oliver and Dig. Their own individual characters, personalities and quirks. So it’s great to assert that Felicity stands as an independent character. That’s part of the reason I didn’t like Laurel she was just the ping pong ball in a game between Oliver and Tommy.

Felicity is a fire cracker. I just love her. That’s why it’s good Olicity is a slow burning fire (which will of course eventually burn down the whole forest because they are AMAZING!) because Felicity is able to develop and grow as an individual character.

I want to see her apartment, and get a bit of a backstory later into the season.

i agree with everything you said, especially, this, (which will of course eventually burn down the whole forest because they are AMAZING!). i would love to meet felicity’s parents, and see their reaction to felicity’s new job and association with oliver queen

Honestly, I love the Olicity dynamic,but I am very satisfied at the pace it seems to be going. We cannot have them all of a sudden jump into a relationship or bed together. It would ruin the team dynamic before it had a chance to be realized. They should evolve together as friends and maybe in the future, something more, but at this time, it should stay a flirty, bantery, sarcastic friendship. Friendship first, then a possible romance in the future. I love the story of something (feelings) being realized and not pushed… Might just be me though.

I love Olicity, and got to say Felicity is the character that really made me obsessed with Arrow.. And I am now genuinely more in love with the show.. and I am really excited for more Felicity involvement in the story and more interaction with other characters. I want to see more of her backstory too, her family, etc. As for the future of Olicity, I am ready for the slowburn, I am ready for the full of twists, push, and pull kind of relationship. How they will do it right. Can’t wait to watch the next ep!

Why isnt Diggle also an option for Felicity, he doesn’t have any girlfriend, not anymore. But people want to wait for Oliver until he is finished sleeping with the whole city.

Olicity promotes racism and the show shouldn’t be promoting this ship heavily, by doing so they are also promoting racism just like some fans do. They don’t want to ship Oliver with POC women like Shado, Isabel, Mckenna when those are his actual love interests and the chemistry is there, but because Oliver/Felicity a couple with pretty white people they ship them. There is so much problematic racist behavior in this fandom, many fans continue to ignore some badass POC women or just characters in general, in favor of the white nerd girl Felicity.

I don’t ship them because there white characters lol, I would be fine if they were different races, I love them because of their personalities. I actually liked him with McKenna, Shado and him also have good chemistry but they were in the island days so it’s kinda weird shipping them because she might die or something. I haven’t warmed up to Isabel…she did try to take his company so…anyways you need to stop sterotyping all “olicity” fans, you clearly don’t know us, so why judge us?

I would seriously love a back story on Felicity I don’t just want her and Oliver together I find that she is an awesome character and they could do so much with her….also who said they will go canon with the relationships….take smallville for an example Clark married Lois but Oliver didn’t marry Dinah Lance he married Chole which wasn’t canon whose to say they can’t pull that on arrow it would be better since Katie Cassidy portrays Laurel horribly I would have taken McKenna over her but Felicity is so much better than anyone because Emily is clearly an amazing actress and The writers have Felicity call Oliver on his stupidity all the time and it’s amazing

If you got Chloe/Oliver in smallville then why do you want Felicity/Oliver, its a cheap copycat and just sort of repetation of what’s already been done. No offense to you but nothing we are seeing with Felicity is really new, Chloe Sullivan already covered that and did it better, better written, better acted. You are hypocrites and have such ridiculous double standards you know that, Clark and Lois did end up together as a smallville and superman main couple as should Oliver and Dinah/Laurel in this show, but you choose to forget that. You want a Chloe/Oliver scenario were a side regular character hooks up with a secondary male hero even though he has his own canon love interest, sure I bet you will be cheering for Barry/Felicity.

Highly doubt what you are saying and I would be happyish if it was a Dinah(Laurel) pairing with Oliver if one they had written Laurel better and two Katie Cassidy didn’t make me cringe in every scene she was in she is blah. You really make no sense at all I wouldn’t cheer for a Barry Felicity pairing you would have a better chance of me cheering for a Diggle Thea pairing. I would also rather have Sara stay canary because I would just not be able to deal with the horrible acting of Katie Cassidy as a super heroine. Felicity and Chole are not that much alike. Oh wait they are blonde and smart that automatically makes them the same character. I watched smallville since the start and have seen it twice through and then some and Felicity is better than Chole in some ways and vice versa.

I briefly watched Smallville and I always liked Chloe. I did want her and Clark to be together, mostly because Chloe was awesome, but I enjoyed all of her love interests. These shows are based off of comic books, they are not exact replicas. Clark and Lois worked for me because anyone was better than Lana Lang. As for Arrow, I want Olicity because they are fun and interesting. Laurel is so boring and the only likable in those rare moments when she’s fighting back.